Technology | Media | Telecommunications

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Connected Living Market to Reach $731 Billion by 2020

Massive technology-led disruption across all industries is moving everyone globally towards an Internet of Everything -- where into the 2020's, tens of millions of people will be connected by trillions of digital things and software applications.

This evolution started in the 1970's that had specialized activities driven by proprietary equipment and mainframes, then increased productivity in the 1990's propelled by the advent of PC's and the internet, followed by bursts of disruption and innovation in 2010 onward -- through open-source cloud and mobility.

Connected Living, according to the latest market study by Frost & Sullivan, is defined as a world in which people use many different devices to experience compelling new services that integrate video, voice, and data services to provide access and ubiquitous connectivity anytime and anywhere.

"Mobility and cloud computing are two pillars of growth that has brought about significant changes in the ICT industry. Cloud computing, big data, mobility and low-cost sensors are driving the Internet of Things and connected industries, and the IoT is forcing transformation and innovation across the connected home, connected workplace and connected city," said Audrey William, head of research at Frost & Sullivan.

Connected home incorporates home automation; smart meters and smart thermostats, intelligent lighting, remote monitoring and control as well as home health -- such as remote diagnostics and wearable health devices.

Frost & Sullivan forecasts the total connected living market to reach $731.70 billion by 2020 as the importance of the internet and digital solutions grows in the overall economy.

Connected city will contribute the largest percentage at 54 percent, equating to an estimated market potential of $392.94 billion, with smart governance and education services making up 50 percent of growth in this segment.Connected work will comprise 31 percent, contributing $228.44 billion. Connected home competes the remaining 15 percent at $111 billion.

Frost & Sullivan predicts that by 2025, the rise of connected living will see 3.7 billion smartphones, 700 million tablets, 520 million wearable health-related devices and 410 million smart appliances in the connected person world. The connected worker world will see 90 million IP Telephones, 400 million laptops and over 60 million unified communication platforms.

Frost & Sullivan expects that nearly 80 percent of US enterprises will adopt BYOD, 30 percent of populations will access office networks remotely, and 90 percent of organisations will offer mobility to workers.

Meanwhile, the connected citizen will have access to 15 million interactive kiosks enabled by 25 million cloud servers servicing around 1 billion smart government and ID cards. Around 500 million smart transportation cards and 50 million contact-less payment cards will be issued and an estimated 35 billion subscribed location based services (LBS) devices by 2020.

The value chain of smart solutions to service all the components of connected living is extremely fragmented, currently with no provider offering end-to-end solutions. While the ecosystem of players is complex, there is no denying that collectively, the market potential is huge and presents immense opportunities for the telecom network operators and ICT vendors.